When you think of a stereotypical estate agent, like you see on the recent panorama, then Haart is precisely what comes to mind. We invited three estate agents to come and quote for us in May 2025. We went with Haart because we were hard sold on their success – they were the most expensive with 1.35%+VAT, and they quoted us £10K higher than any other estate agent, with stats such as 22 Days to offers, and 104% of the advertised price. The red flags we should have noticed were the hard-selling tactics – the fee went down from 1.5% to 1.35% as a special offer just for us. We were naïve to the common tactic of estimating high to secure our business, and hence why Haart valued us £10K higher than anyone else, and we were flattered that our house could do so well. We were also shown videos about digital marketing FLINK, which would help use social media to find buyers. We were also told six pre-approved buyers were looking for a house like ours and would be in for viewings as soon as we signed up and marketed. We started to have sign-up remorse the minute the photos were taken – the agent came around and took them on their iPhone, which was older than mine. The advert then went live, missing a room they thought wasn’t nice enough (a storeroom), and with the Wrong EPC. Two weeks on, none of the pre-approved buyers materialised, so we reduced the price by £10K to match the value offered by other cheaper agents. Only one viewing came through, and they ghosted the agent with no feedback. We requested metrics and data on the advertising's progress, but received only sporadic graphs from Rightmove. These graphs indicated that the initial momentum of the launch had been lost due to being valued too high. We reduced the amount again by a further £5K, but still saw no results. We learnt that their 104% statistic is based on the price advertised when STC on Rightmove and not their valuation price. For example, if the property was originally listed for £200K but reduced to £180K and STC for £185K, it would still be considered over 100% even though it is £15K less than the original valuation. I even had to retake some of the photos and insist that the storeroom be shown. We asked for evidence of FLINK being used on our property, and it was never provided. In the end, we removed our property from the market and will have it off until we are out of contract with Haart and their adverts are forgotten. When we did this, they sent us a letter telling us that they had introduced 12 people to our house, and if we sold it to them, we would owe them a fee. Note that this is bad practice, and the Property Ombudsman Code section 18J makes it clear that introductions are only really evidenced by viewings. We had to pick up the keys, and when we did, they were handed over to us with no ID, Key log or any other security being taken – we hadn’t met anyone in the office that day and could have been anyone – all we had to do is give our address and say we’d come for the key. Learn from our mistake and don’t have your home move plans delayed and derailed by Haart.
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